Boiling Point: Mom’s biscuit bequest solves lifelong search

I would eat biscuits with every meal if I could find the right ones. You can throw yourself into this quest. The Internet offers 2.36 million biscuit recipes for the obsessed, like me.

Jim Hillibish

I’m eating one right now — light, airy, perfectly browned, exactly what my mom would make. Then again, perhaps there are better.

I would eat biscuits with every meal if I could find the right ones. You can throw yourself into this quest. The Internet offers 2.36 million biscuit recipes for the obsessed, like me.

Each one comes with four stars and a gushing report about how these are good enough to eat right out of the oven (wrong, all need to sit a bit).

I don’t actually make my favorite recipe. I watch it. I catch every rerun of Alton Brown’s epic biscuit show, his most popular segment. Alton turns biscuit making into molecular physics. He got so deep into himself, his mother says his recipe is, I quote with her emphasis, “CRAZY!”

Food writers and personalities have made livings off turning simple things complex. Julia Child’s biscuits include parsley and chives. Is this biscuits or salad? She takes a chance on baking powder AND baking soda plus not one but two eggs. Julia, this sounds more like pound cake.

James Beard, bless him, made his with heavy cream. Then he dipped the dough balls in melted butter. Then he took a Lipitor or two and called his doctor.

You see, there’s a lot of room in a book and a lot of time in a 30-minute TV show (and 15 inches of space for this column). If you don’t have anything compelling, invent it already.

Paula Deen of the Food Net is closer to home but no cigar. Her “authentic Southern biscuits” are little, bite-size poppers. Paula, more is much more with biscuits.

One item everybody seems to agree upon is it ain’t the meat, it’s the motion when it comes to biscuit making. Many cooks confuse biscuits with bread and have at it with intense kneading. Result: Cannonball biscuits.

Biscuits rise chemically with baking powder. Anything with this never needs kneading. Yeast is a different creature, alive and requiring 10 minutes of arm-wrestling.

I’ve discovered why all mom-made biscuits rise from the crowd of pretenders. It’s not the biscuits. It’s the memories of cool mornings and her cheery banter as she separated her biscuits steamy from the oven and slathered butter and honey on top. Sigh.

I’ve endured years of experimenting with biscuit recipes. I even did Alton’s “whole nine yards.” Strange thing, the answer was as close as the recipe box I inherited from my mom.

The thing to remember is to keep the rolling pin safely in the cupboard. It offers a temptation, but rolling kills tender biscuits. Mom said that’s why God gave us hands, and that’s the truth.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry knife or dough blender or your fingers, and mix, forming crumbles. Add milk at room temperature and stir with a wooden spoon, only until the dough forms. Add a little more milk if needed or a little more flour if excessively sticky. This depends on the flour you buy.

Dump out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Form into a circle with your hands, then press it out to a half-inch thick. Work the dough minimally. Flour a biscuit cutter and have at it.

Place dough circles on an ungreased baking sheet (Mom used a cast-iron skillet). If they touch, you will have higher, more tender biscuits. A space between them creates crispy biscuits.

Brush tops with milk and bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Check for browning and bake 2 minutes more if needed.

Cool biscuits slightly on a wire rack before serving. You can reheat them in the microwave, 15 seconds on high under a damp paper towel.

Makes about 10 biscuits.

Jim Hillibish writes for The Repository in Canton, Ohio. Contact him at jim.hillibish@cantonrep.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.